WISCASSET – Federal nuclear regulators have refused a state request that they intervene to delay Maine Yankee’s implementation of dry cask storage for the temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel.

Maine Yankee opposed the state’s request because it would have delayed the completion of decommissioning, scheduled for 2004, said spokesman Eric Howes.

“Maine Yankee and the state share a common goal,” Howes said, “but in this instance we feel a better plan would be to meet with the [Department of Energy] and settle the issue away from the courts.”

The state petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a federal court in Washington to delay Maine Yankee’s plans until the Energy Department reveals its permanent solution for long-term storage.

The state was seeking to clarify when exactly the federal government will take charge of the waste, as required by law, said Paula Craighead, a lawyer representing the state nuclear inspector’s office.

The federal government must take responsibility for high-level radioactive waste, but it already reneged on its promise to build a repository for the radioactive waste by Feb. 1, 1998.

Because of the government’s failure, the spent fuel rods from Maine Yankee will be kept indefinitely in dry cask storage in Wiscasset.